Wed Jan 17 02:00:00 EAT 2018

Cleaning services at a fee

A worker fumigates an office. Fumigation is among the services offered by cleaning services companies. courtesy photo

By Dorothy Nakaweesi

In Summary

No body wants to live or work in a dirty place. That is why you should consider starting a cleaning business, Dorothy Nakaweesi writes.

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In case you are not sure where to invest your savings, you can make some money from people who would want to keep a clean home or office but are too busy to do it themselves. Let us take you through how you can earn money from offering cleaning services.

Cleaning service, apartment cleaning and janitorial service are terms more modernly describing a specialised outside service, providing a specific service to individuals, businesses, fraternal clubs and associations as well residential premises.Experts say cleaning services are easy to offer. You can offer discounted services, provided you have the necessary cleaning products onsite.Alternatively, you can offer a more expensive service where you bring your own products.

Case studyAfter graduating from Makerere University as an Occupational Health and Safety Specialist in 2010, he landed a job in Dubai where he worked with Dubai Islamic Bank as archives officer. His two-year experience motivated him to return home and start a business.

“While in Dubai I was exposed to many investment ideas. What struck my mind most was establishing a reputable cleaning services company,” he shared.In 2012, his my dream came to pass. Equipped with his savings worth Shs25 million, Nahabwe procured the necessary equipment to start Mavek Cleaning Services.Right now Mavek Cleaning Services Uganda Ltd is signed to 13 corporate companies, three factories, seven schools and some real estate apartments.Six-years down the road, Nahabwe is a millionaire as his company brings him an annual gross turnover of Shs2.2 billion.

Every month, he takes home Shs35 million in profits.“Monthly, I spend about Shs150 million in expenses like detergents and salaries for the 32 permanent staff and 110 casual labourers,” he shares.After all expenses, Nahabwe takes home a monthly net profit of Shs35 million which is thirteen times more than the $700 (Shs2.5 million) he used to earn as monthly salary while working at the Dubai Islamic Bank.

Capital investmentWhile Nahabwe started with what you would call a fully-fledged cleaning business with all the equipment imported from Dubai at Shs25 million, experts say you can as well start with about Shs2 million and grow.Mr Newton Buteraba, the chief executive officer of House of Wealth, a local firm offering business advisory services and motivational speaking, in an interview with Prosper magazine says a cleaning service requires less capital to start.

“Considerably, this is one of the most important reasons to start a cleaning business as the capital is manageable,” Mr Buteraba shared.He urges those who want to invest in this business to start small mostly for domestic services where you can buy a vacuum cleaner, some buckets and a few brooms.Ideally, it would take one about Shs700,000 to register the business, Shs450,000 to procure the cleaning equipment.“But if you don’t have vacuum cleaners, you can hire them until you make enough money to procure your own,” Mr Buteraba shares.

ChallengesNahabwe says the biggest challenge is infiltration of people who are doing substandard work. Expensive equipment used in cleaning is another challenge.AdviceMr Buteraba advises people to train and visit those who are already doing this business to learn a thing or two.

Market It is advisable to start from your neighbours, relatives and bring on friends. These will recommend you to other clients. Also make random office visits to companies and schools, supermarkets, banks and factories for market.